CHENNAI: A labourer, aged 27, fell to death from a flyover under construction on Taramani Link Road on Saturday night.Prabhakaran of Nerkundram, the deceased, was among the 20 workers who were involved in the construction at Velachery.
“Around 7 pm, Prabhakaran was fixing a fence on the bridge when he spotted his friend trip over it and was about to fall. He rushed to rescue his friend, but tripped and fell off the flyover from a height of about 25 feet. He suffered severe injuries on his head and back,” the investigation officer said.
The other workers rushed him to Government Hospital at Royapettah where doctors declared him dead on arrival.
The bridge is under construction for more than eight months. It was alleged that there were no safety measures in place at the site. “When the incident occurred, there was no safety net. However, since the road was blocked, there was no vehicular movement on the stretch,” the officer said.
Velachery police have registered a case against the site engineer Dinesh and site supervisor Vinoth. Investigation is on.
The deceased Prabhakaran is survived by his wife and a daughter.
According to National Campaign Committee on Construction Labour’s figures released in November last year, at least 300 workers die at construction sites across Tamil Nadu every year or an average of one death is reported every day.